


In the Quiet

by lar_laughs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-12
Updated: 2012-05-12
Packaged: 2017-11-05 05:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/402934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The battle is over and now the repair must begin. Clint shows up and offers a chance for recovery amidst the shadows.</p>
<p>Written for Hugfest 2012</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Quiet

They've gone months without seeing each other, keeping track of the other from random conversations and dropped hints. It was the job and they loved it, no matter how they might complain. There were enough shared memories of happier times to keep the shadows at bay during lonely vigils or stints in darkened cells.

Natasha shouldn't have been surprised to hear the knock on her window but she stiffened, assessing the situation. The front door was still securely locked against the typical intruder and all the lights on the security system were lit up in the right pattern for safety. There was no immediate threat. Just the wind against the bullet-proof glass. 

No, not the wind, she decided when the steady rhythm, oh so familiar, came again. Clint was the only one stupid enough to scale her building without so much as a handhold or jutting buttress. Still, she pulled out the loaded gun from under her pillow and cocked it, ready for anything as she side-stepped forward.

"Let me in, yeah?"

She couldn't help smiling as she saw his face pressed up against the glass like a small child looking in at the candy shop they weren't allowed inside. "Use the front door like a normal person. It's the middle of the night."

"Exactly. Can't just walk up to someone's door in the middle of the night. People will talk."

"What people?" But she was already moving forward to disarm the security system, allowing him in. When he latched the window behind him, she reset the alarm before moving forward, nearly throwing herself at him. They'd only parted this morning, if such an ungodly hour could be considered morning. She'd considered sticking around for the debrief but no one seemed in the mood, not after the hour they'd spend at the sandwich shop, trying out Tony's newest find in complete silence.

The need she had for him, after losing him and finding him and nearly losing him again in the space of only a few days, was great enough to push past any of her normal barriers. When they spent time together, there were casual touches but nothing that might make the other think they meant anything by the gesture. It was all about keeping up the silly barriers that kept their relationship on the solid ground of friendship and nothing more. Now, she wrapped her arms around him and held on, refusing to let go until she'd pushed away the demons that had haunted her even in the deep sleep her body craved after the fight she'd put it through.

He wasn't pushing her away. Nothing like it, as a matter of fact. Their clinging was mutual, each of them holding on to the other until they forgot that there had been a time, only moments ago, that they hadn't been touching. That it hadn't been the two of them holding each other together.

"Stay." It was a command, muffled in the leather of his jacket. If she'd tried to say any more, she would have burst into embarrassing tears. Master assassins did not have such intense emotions as what she was feeling at this moment.

"Sure. No problem." His warm hands on her back told her he understood just as much as his quiet words. He wasn't going anywhere. Neither was she. They clung to each other, offering up healing in the silence.


End file.
